FREEDOM FOR JULIAN ASSANGE

Elogio de la lectura y la ficción

El discurso de Mario Vargas Llosa previo a la ceremonia de entrega del Premio Nobel de Literatura está transido de humanidad y eso lo hace grandioso. Ensalza la literatura como la mayor y más colosal obra humana por la sencilla razón de que con ella no hay nada imposible. Y es que se trata de un don divino, nos hace imperecederos, dejando para la historia recuerdos de nuestro tiempo.

Por eso Mario anima a escribir cuentos y versos, a relatar los entuertos de personajes diversos, a glosar grandes hazañas, a contar los desafueros convirtiendo la escritura en quizá el mejor remedio para hacer todo posible con tan simples instrumentos, y es que la literatura es sin duda un gran invento. Los más inimaginables retos alcanzados por la humanidad han sido previamente glosados por alguna mente iluminada y privilegiada que supo avanzarse a su tiempo y que marcó nuevos horizontes.
El espectro que abarca el arte de escribir es inabarcable, no hay nada que se le resista porque la imaginación es infinita, llega a todas partes e interesa a todo el mundo. La historia de la literatura es la obra más grande jamás contada y Vargas Llosa ya forma parte de ella.
En su discurso, titulado Elogio de la lectura y la ficción, el reciente Premio Nobel relató con emoción su descubrimiento de la lectura a los cinco años, la lectura de poemas con su madre, los libros de Flaubert y Faulkner, la política, los nacionalismos y otros fanatismos, así como la decepción ante la Revolución Cubana y otros acontecimientos que marcaron el siglo XX. Comenzó así:

Aprendí a leer a los cinco años, en la clase del hermano Justiniano, en el Colegio de la Salle, en Cochabamba (Bolivia). Es la cosa más importante que me ha pasado en la vida. Casi setenta años después recuerdo con nitidez cómo esa magia, traducir las palabras de los libros en imágenes, enriqueció mi vida, rompiendo las barreras del tiempo y del espacio y permitiéndome viajar con el capitán Nemo veinte mil leguas de viaje submarino, luchar junto a d’Artagnan, Athos, Portos y Aramís contra las intrigas que amenazan a la Reina en los tiempos del sinuoso Richelieu, o arrastrarme por las entrañas de París, convertido en Jean Valjean, con el cuerpo inerte de Marius a cuestas...

Para leer el texto íntegro, abrir el siguiente documento pdf:

'Elogio de la lectura y la ficción'

DOCUMENTO (PDF - 51Kb) - 07-12-2010

Leaks_El Roto

Como arrastrada por la maldición del código binario, Internet ha vuelto a colocar a la sociedad contemporánea ante un conflicto aparentemente irresoluble, una encrucijada que involucra al periodismo, la política y las nuevas tecnologías. El caso Wikileaks nos muestra con toda claridad el modo en el que el flujo de información marca hoy una nueva fase de las relaciones humanas, con difícil encaje en la política tradicional.

La batalla entre el imperativo de confidencialidad y la libertad de expresión, cuyos "efectos colaterales" hemos visto estas semanas, y cuyas implicaciones finales atañen al funcionamiento mismo de la democracia, trae los ecos de polémicas que han marcado la historia del periodismo, pero también resulta inédita en muchos aspectos. Sin Internet y sin la moderna tecnología de compresión de datos, valga la obviedad, no existiría el Cablegate. Es inimaginable una filtración como esta hace dos décadas: no solo por la facilidad para hurtar los archivos, sino por la ausencia de un mecanismo de fácil acceso a la información filtrada. Si algo hemos aprendido estos días es que la Red representa el único reto serio a ciertos poderes constituidos, capaz de garantizar de facto la posibilidad de un estado de transparencia como el que hoy defienden Wikileaks y sus seguidores... Lo esencial es que una sociedad abierta nunca debe castigar el acceso a la verdad. ERNESTO HERNÁNDEZ BUSTO

Trescientos años antes de Wikileaks, Kant dijo: "Obra de tal manera que tus actos puedan ser tomados como normas universales de conducta". Las filtraciones de Wikileaks abren una era en la que la enseñanza de Kant adquiere un nuevo enfoque.

Nuestros secretos, nuestras dobleces e hipocresías pueden salir a la luz. Ciertamente, es una perspectiva desasosegante, ya que con la exposición de nuestros actos a los ojos de los demás sentimos que perdemos autonomía y libertad. Y ésta es una de las acusaciones que se hace a Wikileaks: romper un "secretismo necesario".
La revolución que propone Wikileaks parece ser la de obligar a Estados, poderes en general, y quién sabe si en un futuro a los individuos, a acatar la máxima de Kant y obrar de tal manera que nada tengamos que ocultar, o por lo menos a hacernos responsables de cómo obramos. Teniendo en cuenta cómo nos ha ido a los humanos admitiendo como válido el secreto, tal vez habría que dar una oportunidad a la transparencia. ALBANO DANTE FACHIN

Students of English at the cinema

Some of the forty IdI students who turned up at the Avenida Cinema, in Seville, before and after watching a special screening of Stephen Frear's hilarious comedy Tamara Drewe in English with subtitles, and having a few laughs while learning some new expressions and some saucy language, hahaha:)

Global Warming

Changing Paradigms_animation video

Unmasking the Tea Party

Writer and journalist Irene Lozano offers a discerning reflection on the emergence ot the extremist, right-wing Tea Party in the United States in her article "La rebelión de las élites", published yesterday in El País. I am sending you a short quote and a link to the complete article in case you are interested in reading the rest of it. It is both thought-provoking and worth reading, as it helps us understand the world we live in better.

...Los seguidores del Tea Party... son revolucionarios en esta época de aparente flacidez ideológica. Se sienten enajenados del poder, pues tradicionalmente había sido ocupado por su nación y por el sujeto histórico que ellos representan. Y ahora deben competir por el dinero, el puesto de trabajo, el estatus o la autoridad intelectual con seres antaño periféricos que solían quedar descalificados para la carrera antes de empezar. Nadie ha vulnerado sus derechos, pero al materializarse su extensión a toda la población, sienten que se les han arrebatado sus viejos privilegios, lo cual es rigurosamente cierto. La no discriminación y el reparto del poder acaban cristalizando en la presencia de un negro en la Casa Blanca, una boda gay o ese G-20 donde los brasileños opinan sobre la economía mundial. En ese momento, el varón blanco conservador de mediana edad se subleva. Si Ortega viviera, ¿no llamaría a este fenómeno "la rebelión de las élites"?

Los teapartyers proclaman su rebeldía contra "el despotismo de Washington", y piden la partida de nacimiento de Obama porque conceden menos legitimidad a las urnas que a la tierra de nacimiento, reivindicación que adquiere ribetes ridículos en un país como Estados Unidos. Son furibundamente antipolíticos, pero no como lo fueron los anarquistas españoles hace un siglo, cuando la política era el coto reservado de la oligarquía, sino ahora, porque ven que la democracia, tomada en serio, acaba con las preferencias ventajosas de cualquier grupo social.

...La rebeldía de las élites adquiere un carácter reaccionario: cuando el establishment favorece la revolución lo hace con el propósito de perpetuar su dominio. Quieren detener en alguna zanja el reparto de poder para restaurar aquel mundo jerárquico y ordenado en que se sentían seguros de su hegemonía y solo disputaban con sus iguales. Naturalmente, se ha visto algún negro en sus manifestaciones y no faltan en sus candidaturas mujeres como Christine O'Donnell, la revelación del Tea Party en las primarias republicanas de Delaware. Además de condenar la homosexualidad y equiparar la masturbación con el adulterio, el matonismo retórico de O'Donnell defiende el papel de esposa y madre para las mujeres...

Mona Hatoum_artist

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

NOPE = NO

We, the undersigned, share the view that Pope Ratzinger should not be given the honour of a state visit to this country. We believe that the pope, as a citizen of Europe and the leader of a religion with many adherents in the UK, is of course free to enter and tour our country. However, as well as a religious leader, the pope is a head of state, and the state and organisation of which he is head has been responsible for:

Opposing the distribution of condoms and so increasing large families in poor countries and the spread of Aids.

Promoting segregated education.

Denying abortion to even the most vulnerable women.

Opposing equal rights for lesbians, gay, bisexual and transgender people.

Failing to address the many cases of abuse of children within its own organisation.

The state of which the pope is head has also resisted signing many major human rights treaties and has formed its own treaties ("concordats") with many states which negatively affect the human rights of citizens of those states. In any case, we reject the masquerading of the Holy See as a state and the pope as a head of state as merely a convenient fiction to amplify the international influence of the Vatican.

Stephen Fry, Professor Richard Dawkins, Professor Susan Blackmore, Terry Pratchett, Philip Pullman, Ed Byrne, Baroness Blackstone, Ken Follett, Professor AC Grayling, Stewart Lee, Baroness Massey, Claire Rayner, Adele Anderson, John Austin MP, Lord Avebury, Sian Berry, Professor Simon Blackburn, Sir David Blatherwick, Sir Tom Blundell, Dr Helena Cronin, Dylan Evans, Hermione Eyre, Lord Foulkes, Professor Chris French, Natalie Haynes, Johann Hari, Jon Holmes, Lord Hughes, Robin Ince, Dr Michael Irwin, Professor Steve Jones, Sir Harold Kroto, Professor John Lee, Zoe Margolis, Jonathan Meades, Sir Jonathan Miller, Diane Munday, Maryam Namazie, David Nobbs, Professor Richard Norman, Lord O'Neill, Simon Price, Paul Rose, Martin Rowson, Michael Rubenstein, Joan Smith, Dr Harry Stopes-Roe, Professor Raymond Tallis, Lord Taverne, Peter Tatchell, Baroness Turner, Professor Lord Wedderburn of Charlton QC FBA, Ann Marie Waters, Professor Wolpert, Jane Wynne Willson

100 Places to Remember

100 Places to Remember Before they Disappear features 100 photographs from one hundred different places around the world in risk of disappearing or seriously threatened by climate change.

The pictures are taken by some of the world's best photographers and all the places are based on reports from UN´s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

On this website you can see the photographs and find further information and news about climate change and their project.

Clases a la boloñesa

La implantación este curso del 'modelo Bolonia' abre la posibilidad de acabar con las "clases magistrales". Sin embargo, aún hay profesores y alumnos que defienden este método medieval, anterior a la imprenta. El diálogo en clase debe sustituir al espectáculo de los alumnos anotando cosas que no entienden.

JOSÉ LÁZARO

El País, 02/09/2010

Es posible que la implantación del llamado modelo Bolonia (que algunos profesores llaman "la amenaza Bolonia") tenga muchos de los inconvenientes que nos predicen los agoreros, pero tiene sin duda una enorme ventaja: abre la posibilidad de acabar con el nefasto hábito medieval de dar y recibir clases. O, al menos, nos facilita mucho las cosas a los profesores que llevamos años intentando no dar ni una. Es la parte buena del modelo docente cuya implantación está prevista para este mismo mes en las universidades españolas que todavía no lo han hecho. Una espléndida noticia, al margen de que sea cierto o no que el modelo Bolonia es solo una estrategia del Mercado Feroz para acabar con los heroicos especialistas en filología wahili o para reconvertir a los novelistas en ingenieros.

De las costumbres arcaicas que aún padecemos en la enseñanza, pocas hay más absurdas y dañinas que las llamadas "lecciones magistrales" (no es broma, se llaman así). Como es sabido, el asunto consiste en que por las tardes los profesores repasan en algún libro el tema que tienen que exponer a la mañana siguiente. Durante la hora de clase lo desarrollan, más o menos correctamente, en forma de soliloquio. Los alumnos toman notas (los tristemente famosos "apuntes") de lo que logran escribir de lo que consiguen entender de lo que el profesor ha dicho. Meses después, para preparar el examen, memorizan lo que son capaces de descifrar en las notas que han tomado.

¿No sería más lógico empezar al revés? Es decir, que sea la lectura por los alumnos de un texto bien elaborado el punto de partida y el diálogo con el profesor un apoyo para la mejor comprensión y asimilación del texto. ¿O es que hay tantos profesores capaces de exponer un tema mejor de forma oral que dedicando un par de tardes a escribirlo? Y esta cuestión, particularmente importante en el caso de las disciplinas humanísticas, debe plantearse también a las ciencias sociales y a las experimentales.

El origen medieval del método se advierte claramente en el pomposo término "lecciones magistrales". La lección (lectio) era una lectura que el ayudante realizaba y que después el maestro (magister) comentaba de forma oral. El mismo esquema que aún utilizan las misas de los católicos: los subalternos leen fragmentos del Nuevo Testamento y luego el sacerdote los comenta para extraer y desarrollar su sentido. Tal sistema era inevitable cuando aún no existía la imprenta, que abrió la posibilidad de que todo el mundo pudiese leer los textos directamente. Es decir: las "lecciones magistrales" dejaron de tener sentido a partir de Gutenberg. O, mejor dicho, tienen sentido cuando se trata de un texto sagrado cuyo sentido ortodoxo hay que predicar, pero no cuando se trata de una disciplina racional o científica cuyo sentido hay que comprender y sobre el que hay que reflexionar y deliberar.

Todos hemos tenido profesores espléndidos a los que daba gusto escuchar. ¿Cuántos fueron? ¿El 10%, el 20%? Mi impresión, a ojo de buen cubero, es que fueron menos. El resto aburría a las ovejas. Es cierto que hay algunos profesores que hablan con brillantez y, sin embargo, solo escriben textos plúmbeos. "José María" -le decía un amigo mío al catedrático que había sido su maestro-, "¿cómo es posible que sea tan fascinante escucharte y tan aburrido leerte?". Estos profesores deberían seguir dando clases tradicionales, que además -en su caso- son realmente magistrales. También es cierto que hay escritores magníficos que, al escucharlos en persona, le tiran a uno el alma a los pies. No recuerdo cuál era el que le decía a un decepcionado admirador al rato de conocerlo: "Tenga usted en cuenta que mis libros son mucho más inteligentes que yo". Pero la regla general es que lo que uno piensa, estructura, redacta y corrige tiene mucha más coherencia y solidez que lo que expone oralmente de forma más o menos ordenada. Y, desde luego, tiene mucha más calidad que los apuntes que un estudiante toma al escuchar al magister.

Quienes hayan tenido que padecer las deprimentes reuniones que en nuestras universidades se han realizado recientemente para organizar la adaptación al modelo Bolonia habrán comprobado que una gran parte de los profesores las han planteado de forma abiertamente lampedusiana: "Vamos a ver lo que tenemos que aparentar que hemos cambiado para poder seguir haciendo lo de siempre". Lo curioso es que también son bastantes (aunque no tantos) los alumnos que defienden el método tradicional con argumentos del tipo: "Es que se nos quedan mejor las cosas al escucharlas que al leerlas". Claro, la falta de función atrofia el órgano. Así que a las afirmaciones pintorescas, respuestas disparatadas: "Entonces, si os parece, yo grabo todas las clases y os las doy para que las escuchéis en vuestro MP3". Entonces los estudiantes sonríen y empiezan a entender lo que es argumentar por reducción al absurdo.

Cuando se les dice el primer día de clase a los alumnos que el principal objetivo de la asignatura es enseñarles a leer, sus rostros expresan el diagnóstico que acaban de hacer: "Este profesor es un cachondo mental que pretende tomarnos el pelo". Días después, tras unas cuantas horas de deliberación sobre los primeros textos que han leído, tras haber dialogado acerca de ellos con el profesor y haber escuchado lo que sus compañeros entendieron en las mismas páginas que ellos han leído, la expresión de los rostros cambia bastante. Expresan entonces el descubrimiento de que leer no es una actividad tan automática como pensaban, que el sentido cambia mucho cuando hay la oportunidad de dar una cuantas vueltas a lo que otros han encontrado en esas mismas páginas que en una primera lectura parecían tener un sentido tan claro.

Podría pensarse que la resistencia a abandonar el sistema tradicional por parte de muchos profesores es debida a que el comentario de textos (propios o ajenos) requiere bastantes horas de interacción con los estudiantes, grupos poco numerosos y, por tanto, mucho más tiempo de docencia presencial para el profesor. Se podría matizar tal objeción, porque lo que requiere el método son horas previas de lectura por el estudiante, pero este tipo de clases requiere menos preparación inmediata que las monologales y además el número de horas de docencia presencial que solemos tener los profesores universitarios (por razones justificadas, desde luego) es bastante menor que el que tienen los de enseñanza media (por no hablar de los horarios de taxistas o camareros).

Pero el verdadero problema quizá esté en la preparación de fondo, pues este tipo de enseñanza lo que de verdad requiere es una sólida base de conocimientos, una capacidad de responder a cuestiones imprevistas, una flexibilidad para interaccionar con el interlocutor sin saber cuál va a ser su próximo paso... Es mucho más fácil y más cómodo memorizar el temario y repetir año tras año las lecciones. Magistrales, claro está.

Pero la pereza y la inseguridad probablemente no sean las únicas razones que se ocultan tras la defensa numantina de las clases tradicionales y la resistencia a las dialogadas. Es curioso que los profesores más proclives a la enseñanza interactiva suelen ser los que reciben más invitaciones a impartir seminarios, ponencias y conferencias fuera de su propia universidad (y fuera de la universidad). Y es curioso también observar la forma en que muchos defensores de las clases tradicionales en formato de soliloquio disfrutan en el momento de repetir sus periódicos monólogos. Gozan intensamente de las horas de clase, con el placer de tener a unas docenas (¡a veces un centenar!) de criaturas escuchando (y anotando) su brioso verbo a lo largo de una hora, sin interrupciones. Decía Freud que nadie es capaz de renunciar sinceramente a un placer que ha conocido. Y hay pocos placeres más dulces que los que acarician el núcleo de la naturaleza humana. Es decir, el narcisismo.

José Lázaro es profesor de Humanidades Médicas en la Universidad Autónoma de Madrid y premio Comillas de Historia, Biografía y Memorias por su libroVidas y muertes de Luis Martín-Santos (Tusquets).

Impossible Syntax

If you can spot the mistake,
post your answer.

Mestizaje

You needn't know French to understand this beautiful song by Julos Beaucarne called "Métissage":

Ta voiture est japonaise,

ta pizza est italienne,

et ton couscous algérien.

Ta démocratie est greque,

ton café est brésilien,

ta montre est suisse,

ta chemise est indienne,

ta radio est coréenne,

tes vacances sont turques, tunisiennes ou marocaines,

tes chiffres sont arabes,

ton écriture est latine,

et ... tu reproches à ton voisin d'être un étranger!

NYC pays homage to La Roja

Detallassso! Olé Empire State Building!

Contra la impunidad y por la dignidad de las víctimas del franquismo

The Good Heart_film

Synopsis: Brian Cox stars as Jacques, the curmudgeonly owner of a gritty New York dive bar that serves as home to a motley assortment of professional drinkers. Jacques is determinedly drinking and smoking himself to death when he meets Lucas (Paul Dano), a homeless young man who has already given up on life. Determined to keep his legacy alive, Jacques deems Lucas is a fitting heir and takes him under his wing, schooling him in the male-centric laws of his alcoholic clubhouse: no new customers, no fraternizing with customers and, absolutely no women. Lucas is a quick study, but their friendship is put to the test when the distraught and beautiful April (Isild Le Besco) shows up at the bar seeking shelter, and Lucas insists they help her out.

Meu Fado_Miguel Poveda & Mariza

Hooked on Gadgets, and Paying a Mental Price

By Mark Richtel
The New York Times,
June 6, 2010

SAN FRANCISCO — When one of the most important e-mail messages of his life landed in his in-box a few years ago, Kord Campbell overlooked it. Not just for a day or two, but 12 days. He finally saw it while sifting through old messages: a big company wanted to buy his Internet start-up.“I stood up from my desk and said, ‘Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God,’ ” Mr. Campbell said. “It’s kind of hard to miss an e-mail like that, but I did.”

The message had slipped by him amid an electronic flood: two computer screens alive with e-mail, instant messages, online chats, a Web browser and the computer code he was writing. (View an interactive panorama of Mr. Campbell's workstation.)

While he managed to salvage the $1.3 million deal after apologizing to his suitor, Mr. Campbell continues to struggle with the effects of the deluge of data. Even after he unplugs, he craves the stimulation he gets from his electronic gadgets. He forgets things like dinner plans, and he has trouble focusing on his family. His wife, Brenda, complains, “It seems like he can no longer be fully in the moment.”

This is your brain on computers.

Scientists say juggling e-mail, phone calls and other incoming information can change how people think and behave. They say our ability to focus is being undermined by bursts of information... (Read rest of the article by clicking here.)

Stonewall Britain: Education for All

Stonewall Tackling homophobic 
bullying in Britain's schools.

12 Events That Will Change Everything

In addition to reacting to news as it breaks, we work to anticipate what will happen. Here we contemplate 12 possibilities and rate their likelihood of happening by 2050.

By Charles Q. Choi, George Musser, John Matson, Philip Yam, David Biello, Michael Moyer, Larry Greenemeier, Katherine Harmon and Robin Lloyd Scientific American, June 2010 issue

Key Concepts

• Several events, both natural and man-made, can happen suddenly and at any time, completely transforming societies.
• Many of these events will not unfold the way popular conceptions have imagined they will.

The best science transforms our conception of the universe and our place in it and helps us to understand and cope with changes beyond our control. Relativity, natural selection, germ theory, heliocentrism and other explanations of natural phenomena have remade our intellectual and cultural landscapes. The same holds true for inventions as diverse as the Internet, formal logic, agriculture and the wheel.

What dramatic new events are in store for humanity? Here we contemplate 12 possibilities and rate their likelihood of happening by 2050. Some will no doubt bring to mind long-standing dystopian visions: extinction-causing asteroid collisions, war-waging intelligent machines, Frankenstein’s monster. Yet the best thinking today suggests that many events will not unfold as expected. In fact, a scenario could be seen as sobering and disappointing to one person and curious and uplifting to another. One thing is certain: they all have the power to forever reshape how we think about ourselves and how we live our lives...

Teaching in Africa

Photo: Angeles Gómez 2010

The FCom Class Photo

English 3 students (with Wiza), May 13th, 2010

Spain in the City

Until 30 April, the Gabarrón Foundation in NYC is showing "Spain in the City", an exhibition devised as a platform and showcase for young Spanish artists currently living in New York City. Gathered in a single space are a variety of artistic languages and ways of perceiving the same reality from different viewpoints and sensibilities. The show thus includes video, photography, painting, sculpture and installations.

An Injustice in Spain

The New York Times

Published: April 8, 2010 Spain’s best-known investigative magistrate, Baltasar Garzón, is now being prosecuted in a politically driven case that should have been thrown out of court.

Judge Garzón is charged with ignoring a 1977 amnesty law when he decided to investigate the disappearances of more than 100,000 people during Spain’s 1930s civil war and the decade of Francoist repression that followed. The charges were brought by two far-right groups who fear an open investigation of the Franco-era record. Unfortunately, one of Mr. Garzón’s fellow magistrates sustained the complaint and brought formal charges this week.

As a result, he will now be suspended from his duties pending trial. If convicted, he could be barred from the bench for up to 20 years, effectively ending a career dedicated to holding terrorists and dictators accountable for their crimes. That would please his political enemies, but it would be a travesty of justice.

The real crimes in this case are the disappearances, not Mr. Garzón’s investigation. If, as seems likely, these were crimes against humanity under international law, Spain’s 1977 amnesty could not legally absolve them. The suspected perpetrators are all dead, and Mr. Garzón long ago halted his investigation, passing jurisdiction to local Spanish courts in the areas where the victims were exhumed.

Mr. Garzón is a fearless and controversial prosecutor who has made many enemies over the years. He has brought cases against Basque and Al Qaeda terrorists, powerful Spanish politicians, Latin American dictators and Russian mafia thugs.

High-profile cases, like his bid to try the former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, appeal to him, and sometimes he overreaches. But his consistent goal has been to deny impunity to the powerful and expand the scope of international human rights law.

Mr. Garzón should be allowed to resume that work at the earliest possible date. Spain needs an honest accounting of its troubled past, not prosecution of those who have the courage to demand it.

Irish Pop Singer Sinead O'Connor on Child Abuse

A Brutal Version of Catholicism by Sinead O'Connor The Washington Post Sunday, March 28, 2010

When I was a child, Ireland was a Catholic theocracy. If a bishop came walking down the street, people would move to make a path for him. If a bishop attended a national sporting event, the team would kneel to kiss his ring. If someone made a mistake, instead of saying, "Nobody's perfect," we said, "Ah sure, it could happen to a bishop."

The expression was more accurate than we knew. This month, Pope Benedict XVI wrote a pastoral letter of apology -- of sorts -- to Ireland to atone for decades of sexual abuse of minors by priests whom those children were supposed to trust. To many people in my homeland, the pope's letter is an insult not only to our intelligence, but to our faith and to our country. To understand why, one must realize that we Irish endured a brutal brand of Catholicism that revolved around the humiliation of children.

I experienced this personally. When I was a young girl, my mother -- an abusive, less-than-perfect parent -- encouraged me to shoplift. After being caught once too often, I spent 18 months in An Grianán Training Centre, an institution in Dublin for girls with behavioral problems, at the recommendation of a social worker. An Grianán was one of the now-infamous church-sponsored "Magdalene laundries," which housed pregnant teenagers and uncooperative young women. We worked in the basement, washing priests' clothes in sinks with cold water and bars of soap. We studied math and typing. We had limited contact with our families. We earned no wages. One of the nuns, at least, was kind to me and gave me my first guitar.

An Grianán was a product of the Irish government's relationship with the Vatican -- the church had a "special position" codified in our constitution until 1972. As recently as 2007, 98 percent of Irish schools were run by the Catholic Church. But schools for troubled youth have been rife with barbaric corporal punishments, psychological abuse and sexual abuse. In October 2005, a report sponsored by the Irish government identified more than 100 allegations of sexual abuse by priests in Ferns, a small town 70 miles south of Dublin, between 1962 and 2002. Accused priests weren't investigated by police; they were deemed to be suffering a "moral" problem. In 2009, a similar report implicated Dublin archbishops in hiding sexual abuse scandals between 1975 and 2004.

Why was such criminal behavior tolerated? The "very prominent role which the Church has played in Irish life is the very reason why abuses by a minority of its members were allowed to go unchecked," the 2009 report said.

Despite the church's long entanglement with the Irish government, Pope Benedict's so-called apology takes no responsibility for the transgressions of Irish priests. His letter states that "the Church in Ireland must first acknowledge before the Lord and before others the serious sins committed against defenceless children." What about the Vatican's complicity in those sins?

Benedict's apology gives the impression that he heard about abuse only recently, and it presents him as a fellow victim: "I can only share in the dismay and the sense of betrayal that so many of you have experienced on learning of these sinful and criminal acts and the way Church authorities in Ireland dealt with them." But Benedict's infamous 2001 letter to bishops around the world ordered them to keep sexual abuse allegations secret under threat of excommunication -- updating a noxious church policy, expressed in a 1962 document, that both priests accused of sex crimes and their victims "observe the strictest secret" and be "restrained by a perpetual silence."

Benedict, then known as Joseph Ratzinger, was a cardinal when he wrote that letter. Now that he sits in Saint Peter's chair, are we to believe that his position has changed? And are we to take comfort in last week's revelations that, in 1996, he declined to defrock a priest who may have molested as many as 200 deaf boys in Wisconsin?

Benedict's apology states that his concern is "above all, to bring healing to the victims." Yet he denies them the one thing that might bring them healing -- a full confession from the Vatican that it has covered up abuse and is now trying to cover up the cover up. Astonishingly, he invites Catholics "to offer up your fasting, your prayer, your reading of Scripture and your works of mercy in order to obtain the grace of healing and renewal for the Church in Ireland." Even more astonishing, he suggests that Ireland's victims can find healing by getting closer to the church -- the same church that has demanded oaths of silence from molested children, as occurred in 1975 in the case of Father Brendan Smyth, an Irish priest later jailed for repeated sexual offenses. After we stopped laughing, many of us in Ireland recognized the idea that we needed the church to get closer to Jesus as blasphemy.

To Irish Catholics, Benedict's implication -- Irish sexual abuse is an Irish problem -- is both arrogant and blasphemous. The Vatican is acting as though it doesn't believe in a God who watches. The very people who say they are the keepers of the Holy Spirit are stamping all over everything the Holy Spirit truly is. Benedict criminally misrepresents the God we adore. We all know in our bones that the Holy Spirit is truth. That's how we can tell that Christ is not with these people who so frequently invoke Him.

Irish Catholics are in a dysfunctional relationship with an abusive organization. The pope must take responsibility for the actions of his subordinates. If Catholic priests are abusing children, it is Rome, not Dublin, that must answer for it with a full confession and in a criminal investigation. Until it does, all good Catholics -- even little old ladies who go to church every Sunday, not just protest singers like me whom the Vatican can easily ignore -- should avoid Mass. In Ireland, it is time we separated our God from our religion, and our faith from its alleged leaders.

Almost 18 years ago, I tore up a picture of Pope John Paul II on an episode of "Saturday Night Live." Many people did not understand the protest -- the next week, the show's guest host, actor Joe Pesci, commented that, had he been there, "I would have gave her such a smack." I knew my action would cause trouble, but I wanted to force a conversation where there was a need for one; that is part of being an artist. All I regretted was that people assumed I didn't believe in God. That's not the case at all. I'm Catholic by birth and culture and would be the first at the church door if the Vatican offered sincere reconciliation.

As Ireland withstands Rome's offensive apology while an Irish bishop resigns, I ask Americans to understand why an Irish Catholic woman who survived child abuse would want to rip up the pope's picture. And whether Irish Catholics, because we daren't say "we deserve better," should be treated as though we deserve less.

For a Spanish translation of this article, click here.

United States of Israel_Rafael Iglesias design

The ESI Class Photo

Let's Kick Homophobia Out of Football_video

Escuchemos a Umberto Eco

El filósofo y escritor italiano Umberto Eco, quien fue investido este miércoles doctor honoris causa por la Facultad de Comunicación de la Universidad de Sevilla, afirmó que Internet es una "especie de parodia de la enciclopedia que reúne todo el saber del mundo, porque incluye también información falsa", por lo que consideró que el medio ha "fracasado en su intento por ordenar el conocimiento del mundo disponible".

"Con Internet no sabemos quién habla". Las palabras del escritor italiano Umberto Eco tenían ayer un cierto fatalismo. Las posibilidades infinitas de la nueva tecnología ocultan monstruos. El autor de El nombre de la rosa alertó sobre las carencias de la red. "Internet parece, en cierto sentido, la enciclopedia que reúne todo el saber del mundo; pero es también una especie de parodia porque recoge informaciones falsas", afirmó.

"La función de una cultura no es sólo conservar, sino que es también deshacerse de cosas. Una biblioteca es la imagen de una cultura no sólo por los libros que tiene sino también por los libros que no ha querido tener", comentó Eco. La presencia de uno de los intelectuales más carismáticos del mundo, del hombre que concilió los estudios sobre la Edad Media con la reflexión en torno al cómic y la televisión, tiene una enorme capacidad de arrastre. No cabía un alfiler en el paraninfo de la Universidad.

No obstante, el semiótico italiano, quien fue precedido en su discurso de investidura por la laudatio del catedrático de Literatura y Comunicación de la Universidad de Sevilla Manuel Angel Vázquez Medel, rechazó la idea de introducir pautas de control en el universo de Internet, ya que, según aseguró, "el más mínimo criterio supondría la reducción de libertad", por lo que se mostró partidario de "educar a la gente a utilizar críticamente la libertad".

Asimismo, el autor aludió durante su discurso, pronunciado en italiano, al "sueño de toda filosofía y de toda ciencia por conocer y definir las cosas por su esencia", aspiración que ilustró haciendo un recorrido por las diferentes herramientas que ha utilizado el ser humano para realizar un compendio del conocimiento existente, entre ellas, la enciclopedia durante el Barroco.

Destacó el Príncipe de Asturias de Comunicación y Humanidades las relaciones entre la enciclopedia barroca y la World Wide Web, indicando que la red no es un sistema ordenado de géneros y especies, sino una lista "infinita e indefinida" de fenómenos, definiciones, descripciones o propiedades. "La web es incapaz de reducir al orden su propia multiplicidad ni nos ofrece instrumentos para crear desde su caos un orden posible", afirmó, reconociendo, sin embargo, que "cualquier orden posible de nuestros conocimientos tendrá que ser elaborado usando la enciclopedia infinita de la web, pero sin sucumbir al vértigo de su laberinto". Eco llevó a un paraninfo lleno de cuadros de reyes y escenas religiosas el aire fresco de un siglo XXI marcado por Internet y el sueño de muchos hombres y mujeres de no perder su libertad.

WORLD PRESS PHOTO 2009

The international jury of the 53rd annual World Press Photo Contest has selected a photo by the Italian photographer Pietro Masturzo as the World Press Photo of the Year 2009. The picture depicts women shouting in protest from a rooftop in Tehran on 24 June. The winning photograph is part of a story depicting the nights following the contested presidential elections in Iran, when people shouted their dissent from roofs and balconies, after daytime protests in the streets. The story as a whole was awarded first prize in the category People in the News.

Sin fútbol_análisis

DAVID TRUEBA

El País, 04/02/2010

Hace años traté de patentar con un amigo la semana de ocho días. Nos pareció un invento prodigioso. Se trataba de añadir un día más a la semana donde nos permitiríamos todos los vicios y placeres acumulables, sin ninguna de las obligaciones. Porque el domingo no bastaba. El domingo fue desde su origen un día saturado de obligaciones disfrazadas de aficiones. Basta con mirar la cantidad de compromisos que uno adquiere con la religión, la familia, la ciudad, el comercio y el entretenimiento, para desacreditar el domingo. El octavo día nos iba a garantizar que ya nunca más nos sentiríamos tan terriblemente tristes los domingos por la tarde viendo cómo se nos escapaba la vida entre los dedos. Ahora es urgente retomar la idea. Sobre todo desde que en reunión extraordinaria de la LFP, que no es un partido trostkista, sino la Liga de Fútbol Profesional, se decidiera ampliar al lunes y al viernes la retransmisión de partidos por televisión. Necesitamos el octavo día por la sencilla razón de que necesitamos un día sin fútbol, ¿es que nadie lo entiende?

El fútbol y la tele viven la historia de proxenetismo más esclarecedora de nuestra civilización. El fútbol da audiencia y fidelidad a los canales. A cambio la tele les da dinero. Pero, como en cualquier negocio turbio, las cuentas nunca salen. Los clubes de fútbol tienen una deuda que supera los 2.000 millones de euros y las televisiones aseguran que emitir fútbol al precio que está no les sale rentable a menos que sea en canales de pago exclusivos. Como muestra de la importancia capital no existen leyes que se aprueben a más velocidad que las que conciernen al fútbol y la tele. Basta un plumazo y sin debate ni enmiendas se cambia lo que haya que cambiar. Y no es de ahora, hace años la doctrina Cascos impuso que España necesitaba un partido de fútbol en abierto porque el interés general es redondo y se maneja con los pies. Ay, si el interés general fuera otra cosa. Ahora vamos a tener fútbol en la tele todos los días. Y no sé ustedes, pero yo sigo soñando con el octavo día, ése en el que hasta Dios o Messi o Cristiano Ronaldo descansan y nos dejan en paz.

It is possible to respect the believers but not the belief

By Timothy Garton Ash

Last weekend I went and sang a lot of words that I don't believe. Do I think an angel appeared to a woman called Mary roughly 2007 years ago and told her she had become pregnant without sleeping with Joseph? I don't. Do I think Good King Wenceslas tramped out into the snow to bring "yonder peasant" food and wine? Not likely. Yet the words were beautiful and familiar, the medieval church was candlelit, my family was with me, and I was moved.

In the next few days, hundreds of millions of people will, like me, go to sing, often with gusto and delight, lines they do not believe or, at best, only half-believe. According to a recent Harris opinion poll for the Financial Times, only one in three people in Britain say they are "a believer". In France, it's less than one in three; even in Italy, it's less than two thirds; only in the United States does the figure exceed three quarters. And it would be interesting to know what proportion of that minority of true believers in Britain and France are Muslims.

That set me thinking - in this extended festive season of Bodhi Day, Hanukah, Christmas, Eid-ul-Adha, Oshogatsu, Guru Gobind Singh's birthday and Makar Sankranti- about what it means to say that we respect someone else's religion in a multicultural society. It seems to me that the biggest problem many post-Christian or nominally Christian Europeans have with the Muslims living amongst them is not that those Muslims are believers in a different religion from Christianity but that they are believers in a religion at all.

This baffles the intellectually significant minority of Europeans who are, so to speak, devout atheists, proselytising believers in the truths discovered by science. For them the issue is not any particular religious superstition, but superstition itself. It is also what worries the much larger number of Europeans who themselves have some vague, lukewarm religious beliefs, or are mildly agnostic, but put other things first. If only the Muslims wouldn't take their Islam so seriously! And, many Europeans would add, if only the Americans wouldn't take their Christianity so seriously!

Now one can argue about whether the world would be a better place if everyone became convinced of the atheistic truths of natural science, or at least took their religion as lightly as most part-time, demi-Christian Europeans do. (Myself, I'm agnostic on that point.) But clearly this can't be the premise on which we build a multicultural society in a free country. That would be just as intolerant as the practice of those majority Muslim countries where no other faiths than Islam are allowed.

On the contrary, in free countries every faith must be allowed - and every faith must be allowed to be questioned, fundamentally, outspokenly, even intemperately and offensively, without fear of reprisal. Richard Dawkins, the Oxford scientist, must be free to say that God is a delusion and Alistair McGrath, the Oxford theologian, must be free to retort that Dawkins is deluded; a conservative journalist must be free to write that the Prophet Muhammad was a paedophile and a Muslim scholar must be free to brand that journalist an ignorant Islamophobe. That's the deal in a free country: freedom of religion and freedom of expression as two sides of the same coin. We must live and let live - a demand that is not as minimal as it sounds, when one thinks of the death threats against Salman Rushdie and the Danish cartoonists. The fence that secures this space is the law of the land.

The interesting question is whether there is a kind of respect that goes beyond this minimal law-fenced live-and-let-live yet stops short of either a hypocritical pretence of intellectual respect for the other's beliefs (the currency of much inter-faith polylogue) or unbounded relativism. I think there is. In fact, I would claim that I know there is - and most of us practice it without even thinking about it. We live and work every day with people who hold, in the temples of their hearts, beliefs that we consider certifiably bonkers. If they seem to us good partners, friends, colleagues, we respect them as such - irrespective of their private and perhaps deepest convictions. If they are close to us, we may not merely respect but love them. We love them, while all the time remaining firmly convinced that in some corner of their minds they cling to a load of nonsense.

Routinely, almost instinctively, we distinguish between the belief and the believer. To be sure, it's easier to do that with some beliefs than it is with others. If someone is convinced that 2 + 2 = 5 and the earth is made of cheese, that will impede everyday coexistence a little more. Yet it's amazing what diverse and even wacky beliefs we do, in practice, coexist with quite happily. (The widespread popular faith in astrology is a good example.) That said, the conduct of the believers can affect our judgment of the belief irrespective of its scientific truth-content. For example, I do not believe there is a God and therefore assume that some 2007 years ago a couple called Joseph and Mary just had a baby. But what a man he turned out to be! Like the great Swiss historian Jacob Burckhardt, I can't get anywhere with Christ as God, but as a human being Jesus Christ seems to me a constant and wonderful inspiration - perhaps even, as Burckhardt put it, "the most beautiful figure in world history". And some of his later imitators didn't do so badly either.

My quarrel with the Dawkins school of atheists is not anything they say about the non-existence of God but what they say about Christians and the history of Christianity - much of which is true, but leaves out the other, positive half of the story. And, as the old Yiddish saying goes, a half-truth is a whole lie. In my judgment as a historian of modern Europe, the positive side is larger than the negative. It seems to me self-evident that we would not have the European civilisation we have today without the heritage of Christianity, Judaism and (in a smaller measure, mainly in the middle ages) Islam, which legacy also paved the way, albeit unwittingly and unwillingly, for the Enlightenment. Moreover, some of the most impressive human beings I have met in my own lifetime have been Christians.

"By their fruits ye shall know them." There is a respect that flows from the present conduct of the believers, irrespective of the scientific plausibility of the original belief. A multicultural society can, at best, be an open, friendly competition between Christians, Sikhs, Muslims, Jews, atheists and, indeed, two-plus-two-equals-fivers, to impress us with their character and good works.

Meanwhile, there's the vexed question of the all-purpose multicultural midwinter salutation. "Happy holidays" is impossibly twee and anodyne. I'm afraid I have resorted to "season's greetings", but that's pretty tiresome too. Ideally, one should customise according to recipient - "Merry Christmas", "Happy Eid", "Jolly Oshogatsu", etc - but that is not always possible. Yesterday, I received a card from the British ambassador to Washington which contains an excellent solution. "Yuletide greetings", it said, evoking the Pagan winter solstice (Yule is tomorrow, December 22) but with the hint of a warm-hearted Dickensian Christmas. Perfect.

Good Yule to you all.

Timothy Garton Ash is a historian, political writer and Guardian columnist. He is also professor of European studies in the University of Oxford.

timothygartonash.com

Laughter Therapy_Risoterapia :)

Hay quienes dicen que hacerlo de pie fortalece la columna,
boca abajo estimula la circulación de la sangre,
boca arriba es más placentero,
hacerlo solo es rico pero egoísta,
en grupo puede ser divertido,
en el baño es muy digestivo,
en el coche puede ser peligroso,
hacerlo con frecuencia desarrolla la imaginación,
entre dos enriquece el conocimiento,
de rodillas resulta doloroso,...
sobre la mesa,
sobre el escritorio,
antes de comer o en la sobremesa,
sobre la cama o en la hamaca,
desnudos o vestidos,
sobre el césped o la alfombra,
con música o en silencio,
entre sábanas o en el armario.
Hacerlo siempre es un acto de amor.
No importa la edad,
ni la raza,
ni el credo,
ni el sexo,
ni la posición...

¡Leer... leer es un placer, siempre!
Hay que leer más.
Leer es +

Viñeta Interferencias, El Roto

The Aroma of Tea_animation short

Amazing animation short film by Michael Dudok de Wit (Holland, 2006), 3 min.

50 (British) Reasons to Love the European Union

As the EU celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2007, The Independent, one of Britain's quality newspapers, looked at 50 benefits it has brought, and asked: "What has Europe done for us?" Here are the answers:

1 The end of war between European nations
2 Democracy is now flourishing in 27 countries
3 Once-poor countries, such as Ireland, Greece and Portugal, are prospering
4 The creation of the world's largest internal trading market
5 Unparalleled rights for European consumers
6 Co-operation on continent-wide immigration policy
7 Co-operation on crime, through Europol
8 Laws that make it easier for British people to buy property in Europe
9 Cleaner beaches and rivers throughout Europe
10 Four weeks statutory paid holiday a year for workers in Europe
11 No death penalty (it is incompatible with EU membership)
12 Competition from privatised companies means cheaper phone calls
13 Small EU bureaucracy (24,000 employees, fewer than the BBC)
14 Making the French eat British beef again
15 Minority languages, such as Irish, Welsh and Catalan recognised and protected
16 Europe is helping to save the planet with regulatory cuts in CO2
17 One currency from Bantry to Berlin (but not Britain)
18 Europe-wide travel bans on tyrants such as Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe
19 The EU gives twice as much aid to developing countries as the United States
20 Strict safety standards for cars, buses and aircraft
21 Free medical help for tourists
22 EU peacekeepers operate in trouble spots throughout the world
23 Europe's single market has brought cheap flights to the masses, and new prosperity for forgotten cities
24 Introduction of pet passports
25 It now takes only 2 hrs 35 mins from London to Paris by Eurostar
26 Prospect of EU membership has forced modernisation on Turkey
27 Shopping without frontiers gives consumers more power to shape markets
28 Cheap travel and study programmes means greater mobility for Europe's youth
29 Food labelling is much clearer
30 No tiresome border checks (apart from in the UK)
31 Compensation for passengers suffering air delays
32 Strict ban on animal testing for the cosmetic industry
33 Greater protection for Europe's wildlife
34 Regional development fund has aided the deprived parts of Britain
35 European driving licences recognised across the EU
36 Britons now feel a lot less insular
37 Europe's bananas remain bent, despite sceptics' fears
38 Strong economic growth - greater than the United States last year
39 Single market has brought the best continental footballers to Britain
40 Human rights legislation has protected the rights of the individual
41 European Parliament provides democratic checks on all EU laws
42 EU gives more, not less, sovereignty to nation states
43 Maturing EU is a proper counterweight to the power of US and China
44 European immigration has boosted the British economy
45 Europeans are increasingly multilingual - except Britons, who are less so
46 Europe has set Britain an example how properly to fund a national health service
47 British restaurants now much more cosmopolitan
48 Total mobility for career professionals in Europe
49 Europe has revolutionised British attitudes to food and cooking
50 Lists like this drive the Eurosceptics mad